Camphor laurel was introduced into Australia from Asia in 1822 where it was planted as a garden ornamental throughout Queensland and New South Wales. Camphor laurel is an attractive shade tree, but has a reputation as a very destructive tree as it aggressively replaces native vegetation.

This species is now prolific around South East Qld and Northern NSW and for generations has been used extensively amongst fine furniture makers due to its striking grain, workability and stability. Its use as a tone wood is not widely known as the timber is not commercially harvested like some of the more common Australian species.

After using Camphor Laurel for many years as a tone wood, applying different voicing techniques and experimenting with variables like density, mass and specific colour selection, we have been able to refine the very best of what Camphor Laurel has to offer as a musical tone wood.

Camphor Laurel yields a crisp yet warm mid-range leaning slightly more to the bass side. A great tonal choice for strummers and flat pickers alike. The striking visual features of Camphor Laurel also make it a great choice for musicians looking for something a little more unique as each back and side set yields bold colour variations. Best of all, by utilising Camphor Laurel as a tone wood we like to think that we are helping restore our native vegetation one guitar at a time!

Specs